Tyre workshop owner defrauded COVID bounce-back loan scheme

The past owner of Smart Tyre Services has been disqualified from being a company director for defrauding the Government-backed bounce back loan scheme introduced in the COVID pandemic.

Shkelzen Gashi, who ran Smart Tyres Services from Harringay Road in North London between 2015 and 2022, was found to have verstated his company’s income by almost double the actual figure when applying for the COVID-19 support loan in 2020 in order to claim the maximum £50,000 support.

Smart Tyres Services was entitled to a loan of £33,600 based on its actual turnover of £134,401 for the 2019 calendar year, however Gashi had falsely declared an income of £250,000 on the application form.

As a result of this false declaration, the company received the full £50,000 loan in October 2020.

Following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, Gashi was disqualified as a company director until April 2035.

At a High Court hearing in Birmingham on April 2nd, he was also ordered to pay costs of £5,333. Additionally, Gashi has repaid £8,000 of the received Bounce Back Loan.

Kevin Read, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, stated that Gashi had blatantly overstated his company’s turnover to receive significantly more Covid support than he was entitled to. He added that Gashi had failed to provide an explanation for his actions despite numerous opportunities to do so.

Read emphasised that the Bounce Back Loan scheme involved taxpayers’ money and that Gashi would now be unable to be involved in the promotion, formation, or management of a company for the next decade due to his dishonest conduct.

Smart Tyres Services, incorporated in May 2015 with Gashi as the sole director and shareholder, ceased trading in August 2022 with liabilities exceeding £100,000.

A separate non-related tyre shop currently operates from the same address.